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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · 9h

My review of @juliabelluz.bsky.social and @kevinh-phd.bsky.social's new book Food Intelligence finally published on @medscape.com. tl;dr? If you're looking for a detailing of our current understanding of the science of food, eating, and metabolism, this one's for you www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

What We Know and Don’t Know About Nutrition and Health

Yoni Freedhoff, MD, reviews the new book 'Food Intelligence,' which details the impact of food on nutrition, biochemistry, metabolism, and health.

www.medscape.com

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Aug 21

Link to full piece (registration is, as always, free) medscape.com/viewarticle/...

GLP-1s Don’t Increase Suicide Risk

Many patients inquire about the risk of suicidal ideation with GLP-1s, writes Yoni Freedhoff, MD. Rather than increasing the risk, he has found they actually decrease it.

medscape.com

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Aug 21

whereby the studies receiving the most media attention are those reporting literally negative (ie, adverse) outcomes. In contrast, more rigorous studies that challenge these negative findings, even if publicized, rarely achieve comparable societal penetration or awareness /3

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Aug 21

Since then have you heard that no, GLP1 meds almost certainly don't increase the risk of suicide and might in fact contribute to improved mood? I'm betting that's less likely and the reason why is negative publication bias - media edition /2

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Aug 21

My latest in @medscape.com on GLP1 meds and suicide: Did you hear GLP1 meds might increase the risk of suicide? I'd bet you did. It was all over the news consequent to just 3 case reports submitted by Iceland to the European Medicine Association who announced an investigation /1

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Reposted by Yoni Freedhoff

Tyson Graber @rnaguru.bsky.social · Jul 4

@yonifreedhoff.com Here are violin plots showing distribution of the ww signal in Ottawa by year and by VOC. "wwlast30d" represents signal sampled over past 30 days.

A 5-year, continuous public health dataset unaffected by policy changes--unlike clinical indicators--is a beautiful thing.

2 plots showing distributions of ww signal by year and by VOC.

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jul 5

Amazing

Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jul 4

They were offering financial assistance only for those prescribed tirzepatide for diabetes

Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jul 4

You might remember my blog on how Lilly effectively levied a fat tax on obesity whereby they were charging more for tirzepatide prescribed for obesity than for diabetes in 🇨🇦. Well they've cancelled that and launched a financial assistance program for Zepbound open.substack.com/pub/yonifree...

Lilly Cancels Its Tirzepatide Fat Tax

Lilly announces the pending launch of their MyZepbound.ca financial assistance program for patients prescribed tirzepatide for obesity

open.substack.com

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jul 3

Are we at the lowest levels of the entire pandemic? Looks like maybe. Or at least very close. Pre-delta.

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jul 3

impact because when we shop hungry we buy and want all the things! For more details can click through to the story medscape.com/viewarticle/...

How do Front-of-Package Warnings Influence People?

A recent study found that different front-of-package labels were effective in decreasing purchases, but can it be a long-term solution?

medscape.com

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jul 3

it would be valuable to compare the impact labels have on people with markedly decreased levels of hunger and cravings (GLP1 users) vs. those whose hunger and craving levels are not medically reduced. My bet of course is that the latter group will see a markedly diminished /3

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jul 3

nutrient only warnings were nearly as effective as those that tied warning to diseases like obesity - but only in an artificial study setting. In the real world, if the hope is that front of package warnings protect against weight gain/help with weight loss /2

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jul 3

Do front-of-package food warnings change behaviour? Do they increase stigma vs. obesity? How about if the warnings don't reference obesity at all but simply, as they should, reference nutrients? My latest for @medscape.com explores new research that found /1

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 25

Good news for Canadians looking to start Zepbound (tirzepatide) for obesity. Lilly will be introducing a program to help defray costs. Medication should be on shelves mid summer. I'll blog about this in more detail but wanted to briefly mention

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 21

But overall, even with what sounds like care shortcomings, it's heartening to see this sort of reporting. These drugs change lives and are remarkable. Worth the click
www.reuters.com/investigates...

The Wegovy effect: A new drug reshapes the lives of teens wih obesity

Reuters delves into the experiences of four American teenagers with obesity who were among the first wave to take Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug.

www.reuters.com

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 21

And it certainly doesn't sound like any of the teens or their families received any real nutritional support or counselling that might have helped them maximize medication efficacy. Even sounded like one MD involved explicitly avoids providing same. /4

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 21

At least 2 of the teens had what sound like fairly severe side effects that they soldiered through - but with careful follow up I'd venture they could have been either avoided by slower dose titration, mitigated by way of dietary tweaking, or treated by way of concomitant Rx /3

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 21

Also striking though was that at least from the article, which of course may not have shared all of the details, the teens and their families received minimal or no ongoing support around the drug's prescription /2

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 21

Just read a rare piece that rather than demonize weight loss drugs, instead highlighted the use of Wegovy in teens by emphasizing the teens' joy for the benefits the drug provided them with /1

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 12

If you'd like to read more, here's the link, and a reminder, registration is free and you need not be a healthcare provider to do so www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

Cancer Prevention Bias: Not Mentioning Obesity Interventions

Cancer prevention guidelines and studies fail to mention weight loss medications and surgeries, and their ability to decrease risk. Is this another form of weight bias?

www.medscape.com

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 12

and not even one suggested a discussion with one's MD about weight loss medications or surgery. Difficult to reconcile that with the data except as an extension of the pervasive bias that obesity is a disease of willpower alone and as such, meds and surgery are somehow wrong /6

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 12

And there's no reason not to expect sustained pharmaceutically aided losses to confer similar results. Yet when I looked at some of the more publicized charities and organizations, though weight was listed as a risk factor, most provided zero guidance on how to manage it /5

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 12

There is benefit too to non-surgical weight loss where even modest and sustained weight loss is protective against breast cancer where sustaining a 2-4.5 kg loss was associated with an HR of 0.82; 4.5-9 kg of with an HR of 0.75; and > 9 kg an HR of 0.68. /4

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Yoni Freedhoff @yonifreedhoff.com · Jun 12

Studies show hormone receptor +ve breast cancer risk increases 12% per 5-points of BMI in postmenopausal women, and he data on weight loss' prevention benefits is dramatic whereby bariatric surgical patients' hazard ratio for breast cancer's development was an astonishing 0.52 /3

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